Beth and Jason did a great job of capturing the evening. I have left my camera at home lately... but it was truly a blessing to bring in the new year worshiping our King and reflecting on what we are truly thankful for as we look back over what has happened since this time last year.

end of semester thoughts:

The question was asked... what have you seen God do this semester? It was a beautiful thing to go around the room and hear and celebrate all He has done. Mattdid a great job recording the words spoken at that meeting. For me, it has been different than I thought. From the get-go I have felt 'at home' here and it's hard for me to separate the 'before' and 'after' of my life in HK. I still feel I have simply stepped into what He has called me to do and be. I am far from perfect at it but know I am growing towards fulfilling more deeply role He has called me to play in His grand story. All I can think is it's...

-His Invitation-

As I look back over this semester I am more and more happy about accepting it. There's something special about responding to that which the God of the Universe invites us into, and it starts when He invites us into His very life by our faith in Christ. As the song in the video below states: "...And this is grace: an invitation to be beautiful..." So there's not really an ending point here, but I remain on a journey- of sanctification, or, in other words, being made more holy, more like Jesus. Not just performing well or doing the right thing but growing in the GRACE of God. Trusting Him more. Trusting Him to be ALL I need. Trusting Him to illuminate my person to make Himself known in this world. HE IS all that is beautiful... and receiving His redemption for myself, for my failures, for where I feel I am lacking, and letting Him fill me is all I know to do--simply receive, and declare that message of reconciliation to those around me.

The promise is, "come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He, as I surrender, will do this. Not my own independent effort but His own strength in and through me. This is true life. In knowing Christ we have something to INVITE others into. There's something in the human soul that God has mades us to desire and respond to this invitation. Ultimately from Him, but through vessels of love like us.

I pray we all discover what it is to live by grace, moment by moment, and respond as the Shepherd leads us one step at a time. He won''t lead us too far ahead (even when we get anxious to MOVE) from where he intends or keep us in the same place unless he feels its best. He is good. He knows us well and He lead us in His perfect timing. I pray you can trust the Shepherd and hear His invitation to simply 'follow...'

sentimental.most of you probably won't watch this lovely 4 minute video, but that's ok.... i made it more for my own record anyway. For anyone that is interested- it's 4 minutes long and has one of my favorite songs by Sara Groves. (Lyrics below- full of my favorite words for today: invitation and grace...) It ties together all things and that which I desire strongly to see Him do in our world today. The value of the people God has made in His image- they need to know their worth, their purpose, and drink deeply of the GRACE He so freely gives...

Thankfully the rest of my team is good about blogging regularly. I, obviously, am not, but enough about that... here's the Christmas rundown:

::Hong Kong's production of the Nutcracker ballet- so neat, yet they cut out the part with Mother Ginger. No one asked me, maybe they will next year. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest!
::Chinese Dessert post Nutcracker... nothing says yummy like red bean ice cream and a mango pancake with mango pudding...
::LOTS of shopping and trying to AVOID shopping because the whole of China comes out to be in the hustle and bustle... but for what end? You start to think about it and try not to get too depressed... the task is overwhelming but knowing that a few lives here have awakened to the fact that Christmas exists because of our Saviour redeems those moments...

::Baking party- Growing up I went to the Mancil's home each Christmas to decorate sugar cookies with colorful icing. Well no worries folks, we did that here and our girls LOVED it, but not as much as the LOVED making Christmas cards and ornaments. Especially those cards. Then, of course the guys on our team came by later to eat the leftover cookies and icing...

::ELF - What is Christmas without the movie elf? We had a "special showing" at our home... Jason even made tickets!

::Christmas day: Maik and I met some students at our church for the Christmas service. Some of them heard the entire story for the first time. It was great to alternate between the reading of the story and singing carols that go right along with it. The reality of what it means for this "GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY THAT SHALL BE FOR ALL PEOPLE" sunk in my heart as the scriptures were read in Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Tagalog, Hungarian, Spanish, Chinese, and English. These languages represent a minute percentage of the languages on this earth, many of which STILL have not heard about God's love for them and His reconciliation with them through Jesus who came not to condemn the world but to SAVE it. If you want to know more about this you can read here or here. There are 2200 languages without the Bible in their native tongues, totalling hundreds of millions of people. Then there are people groups who have no knowledge of Christ or are hostile towards the gospel or too remote to have access, or, for one reason or another, have never heard. PLEASE PRAY for God to raise people up to reach these people- 41% of the Earth's population fits in the category. Staggering, yet true...

::After church we went to the Deans and had delicious cinnamon rolls and a secret santa gift exchange. It was really fun to share in that time and receive our "stockings" (ok, upside down santa hats) of goodies! Thanks, Deans!!

::Then came another really special part: Celebrating Christmas with several students for the first time and with friends who may be the only Christian in their family or away from their family. We gave gifts, sang some carols, and read Jesus' story from the book of Luke. It's so neat how when the Father is present you truly feel like a family! Oh, and just for a little culture, look at this link to see a picture of how we had dinner: RACLETTE! It's an indoor grill common in Switzerland, so of course Maik had a couple lying around where we could sit around and eat a LOT! It was a BLAST! If you ever come across one, buy it and have a party- it's like BBQ and FONDUE all together. Yeah!

::I finished the day by skyping with Mom, Dad, Jack and Grace... and even my sweet Grandad who just couldn't believe that I was still in Hong Kong if he could still see my face on the screen. Technology is amazing I tell you.

So all that to say, Christmas was awesome here. It was hard to register that it was actually December 25, yet it was nice to really focus in Him and not being caught up in the world's Christmas, but simply caught up in Christ, the burden of others to know Him in the midst of a materialistic city, and for them to see that HE is the treasure more than anything we obtain here on earth. When I grasp that truth, I find such freedom to be surrendered to Him. I pray this freedom is yours, too!